China, N. Korea portray strong ties after leader’s visit

BEIJING — North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping sought to portray strong ties between the neighbors and longtime allies despite a recent chill, as both countries on Wednesday confirmed Kim’s secret trip to Beijing this week.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Kim made the unofficial visit to China from Sunday to Wednesday at Xi’s invitation in what was in his first trip to a foreign country since he took power in 2011.

Xi held talks with Kim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and he and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a banquet for Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju, Xinhua said.

Official reports from both countries depicted in effusive terms warm ties between the two leaders in what analysts said appeared to be an effort to downplay recent tensions in relations over Kim’s development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

In these reports, “Kim reaffirms the traditional friendship between the two countries as if nothing had ever happened, when the relationship had plummeted to unprecedented lows,” said Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Ties in recent months have frayed as China supported tougher U.N. sanctions on North Korea and suspended imports of coal, iron ore, seafood and textiles. Pyongyang last year seemingly sought to humiliate Beijing by timing some of its missile tests for major global summits in China, while its state media accused Chinese state-controlled media of “going under the armpit of the U.S.” by criticizing the North.

Xi hailed Kim’s visit as embodying the importance with which the North Korean leader regarded ties with China.

Analysts say Kim would have felt a need to consult with his country’s traditional ally ahead of his planned meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and President Donald Trump in the coming weeks.